This invention relates generally to containers, and more particularly to a sterilization container which provides for the fail-safe passage of gas sterilant to the inside of the container without compromising safe containment of its contents. The invented container is useful in the sterilization of a variety of objects, but has proven especially useful in connection with the sterilization and storage of medical instruments and is described as such herein.
Sterilization of medical instruments has long been recognized as an effective way of preventing infection which may result from intrusive surgical procedures. Such infection may be caused by carriage of microorganisms or other contaminants into the body via surgical instruments during a surgical procedure. In an attempt to curb infection, instruments have typically been sterilized by placing them into a container and then placing the container into a sterilization autoclave. In the autoclave, the container and instruments are subjected to a sterilization medium which penetrates the container, sterilizing the instruments held therein. Once sterilization is completed, the container is removed from the autoclave and stored until the instruments are to be used.
Over the years, numerous containers have been developed for specific use in the sterilization and storage of medical instruments. Containers have been formed of metal, of plastic, of glass, and of paper, each of these materials being adaptable to define a sealed compartment once sterilization has been accomplished. Known containers, however, have been characterized by a variety of problems related to cost and functionality. Metal containers, for example, often include sterilizing gas inlet valves which are both complex and expensive. Such containers also are inadequate in that they do not allow for ready identification of instruments contained within the container once sterilized unless the sterilization seal is broken. Conventional plastic sterilization containers may allow identification, but known systems do not provide for passage of gas sterilant into the container while the lid is fitted thereto. When using plastic sterilization containers, instruments must therefore be sterilized without the lid in place, leading to the possibility of post-sterilization contamination or to operator injury due to the projection of sharp instruments beyond the confines of the container's base. Further, many prior art systems are actually highly perforated and allow readily for gas passage, but present the problem that once the sterilized package is removed from the sterilizing environment the perforations expose the just sterilized instrument to recontamination. Glass containers also allow view of their contents but are subject to easy breakage and have proven difficult to seal. Use of paper containers has similarly resulted in problems, such containers often being plagued by their susceptibility to puncture which may lead both to operator injury and to contamination of the instruments contained therein.
The above-cited disadvantages often necessitate repetitive sterilization and detract from the safety available to both sterilization equipment operators and to patients on whom the presumably sterilized instruments are used. A demand has therefore arisen for a sterilization container which provides for the safe containment of objects both during sterilization, and thereafter, without the necessity of the complex valve structures now in use.
Another issue arising in the sterilization of medical instruments concerns the efficiency with which the instruments can be sterilized, most known sterilization containers being designed with little or no consideration given to the size or shape of the autoclave in which sterilization is to occur. A conventional sterilizing autoclave, for example, includes a relatively small cylindrical chamber in which the instruments are to be placed for sterilization. Little has previously been done to accommodate the sterilization of instruments which have been placed in a container to maximize use of the limited autoclave space. Such inefficient use of space leads to wasted time and wasted resources due to repetitive autoclave operation. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a sterilization container which maximizes the use of space within the chamber of an autoclave during the sterilization procedure.